Process for producing textile fibers from reeds and the like.



FRITZ FUCHS, or VIENNA, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

PROCESS FOR PRODUCING TEXTILE FIBERS FROM REEDS. AND THE LIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 19, 1909.

Application filed July 17, 1905.. Serial No. 270,120.

To all whom it may concern:

100 kilograms of the reeds. According to a Be it known that I, FRITZ FUoHs, chemist, modification of this process, the pressed a subject of the Emperor of Austria-Hun- I reeds are gary, residing at Vienna, Province'of Lower Austria, Empire of Austria-Hungary, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes for the Production of Textile Fibers from Reeds and the Like.

In the practice of my processes textile fibers are produced from reeds, rushes and the like in the following manner: The reeds, which are used in a dry condition, are first ressed into open ended cylinders of perforated or foraminous material which are placed in boilers adapted to be hermetically sealed. The boilers are then closed and the air exhausted therefrom by means of a suitable air pump. Soda-lye of 1% to 2% strength and at atmospheric tem erature is then admitted to the boiler until t e mass of pressed reeds is wholly submerged therein. The reeds are permitted to. remain in the lye for from six to seven hours, a vacuum being maintained in the meantime. At the end of the period mentioned air is admitted to the boiler and the liquid which has not been absorbed by the reeds is withdrawn. The reeds are then slightly pressed so that they retain only about three times their weight of the lye. The mass of reeds is then placed in a receptacle adapted to be hermetically closed and is heated to a temperature of from 60 to 70 C. by means of warm water or steam for a period of from five to eight hours. The heating referred to can ta e place in the boiler first mentioned and may be carried on at ordinary or at reduced atmospheric pressure.

For the treatment of the next batch of reeds the lye remaining from the first treatment can be used if employed in connection with an equal amount of fresh soda-lye. If an equal quantity of fresh soda-lye is not added to the residue, an inferior product results from the treatment of the reeds. A convenient arrangement is to employ a num ber of boilers and use the lye with suitable additions of fresh lye successively in one boiler after another.

The best grade of fiber is obtained by using the lye only once. In this case a 1% solution of soda-lye can be used. Where such solution is employed, from 500 to 700 liters of the lye are suflicient for the treatment of 1placed in boilers adapted to be hermetically sealed and are covered with a 1: to 2% solution of soda-lye. The material is then subjected or exposed to a pressure of from 13 to 15 atmospheres, after which the boiler is heated to from 60 to 70 C. in a separate vessel at normal atmospheric pressure.

In a third embodiment of my process, which represents my invention in its perfected form, my process is carried out by first treating the reeds in contact with the soda-lye in a vacuum, and then subjecting the mass to pressure and heat simultaneously. In carrying out this form of my process, the reeds are tightly pressed into perforated open ended cylinders by means of a screw press. The cylinders are then placed in boilers and the air withdrawn. The alkaline solution, preferably at a temperature of 50 0., is then introduced into the boiler and the reeds and surrounding lye are then subjected to a pressure of 15 atmospheres. This pressure is maintained for about an hour, after which the lye is drawn off and the reeds removed. The material subjected to the process referred to soaks up about from three to three and a half times its weight of lye; that is to say, 100 kilograms of pressed reeds will take up about from 300 to 500 kilograms of lye. The soaked reeds are then heated to a temperature of from 60 to 70 C. in the manner hereinbefore described.

When filling the boiler a second time after the first step or stage of my process, the lye remaining from the first charge is used, Practice has shown that if the reeds are sufficiently pressed the reed mass soaks up about 70% of the quantity of lye which is necessary to use in filling the boiler, so that about 70% of fresh lye is required to be added to the residue for each successive treatment.

After the reeds have remained in the heating apparatus for about twelve hours, they are taken out and the reeds are then freed from the greater part of the absorbed liquid by pressing. The reeds are then washed by means of a suitable mechanical washing machine, the washing being conducted first in warm water then in cold. The fiber mass is then freed from the greater part of the Water absorbed during the washing process by 10 adapted to e hermetically sealed, exhausting the air from said boiler, submerging the reeds in Weak soda lye for about siX to seven hours, the vacuum being maintained during the submersion, Withdrawing the liquid,

pressing the reeds until they retain only 15 about three times their weight of the lye and heating the reeds to a temperature of about 60 to 70 C. for from about five to eight hours.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature 20 in presence of tWo Witnesses.

FRITZ FUCHS.

Witnesses:

ALvEs'ro S. HOGUE, AUGUST FUGGER. 

